The Derek Hale Experiment
by geniusbillionaireplayboy
Summary: Every night Derek climbs into Stiles' room through his window.
1. Chapter 1

First he just showed up randomly, occasionally, to tell him something that for whatever reason couldn't be communicated with a phone call or a text, or hell even an e-mail (if Derek even had a computer, it sure didn't look like his house was wifi equipped). Stiles would be saying goodnight to his dad, promising he would get to bed on time, or maybe it was so late that his dad had gone to bed and he was sneaking downstairs for a late night stack to carry him through his endless hours of internet surfing, and then BAM! Derek Hale out of nowhere. Well, the window. It was a big enough shock to make him think he was having a heart attack the first few times.

He actually distinctly remembered the first time he hadn't had to clamp a hand over his mouth to keep from screaming when he saw Derek, who still terrified him despite now seeing him regularly as Scott's alpha. He had been arguing with his dad. It had been a particularly difficult month with trying to protect Scott from being outed as a werewolf and helping Scott defend the town and talking to Scott about his girl troubles. His grades started to slip and when his dad confronted him about it the stress just kind of came bubbling out and they ended up yelling at each other about how Stiles needed to buckle down and think about college and his dad needed to lay off his back and would never understand what he was going through. By the time Stiles had stomped upstairs to his bedroom he felt like shit. He hated fighting with anybody, especially the one real family member he had left. Derek was sitting on his bed, one of Stiles' werewolf books he'd gotten from the library open on his lap.

"Oh, hey." It was at that moment that Derek started actually looking at place in his bedroom.

"Everything ok?"

"Yeah. Sure. I don't want to talk about it. What's up?" After Derek filled him in on whatever information had been so vital, as he was about to slide out the window he said,

"You should just apologize to him in the morning. He's under a lot of stress, too. He'll understand." And then he was gone. Like a mysterious, probably way hotter Dear Abby.

It was about a month after that when Stiles noticed the visits becoming more regular. Derek started appearing like clockwork, a couple times a week. Sometimes he wouldn't even have anything to say and they would just sit on Stiles' bed and talk until dawn. It felt good having somebody to confide in, especially after all the time he'd been there for Scott without having the favor returned. He didn't have to cover anything up around Derek, or use half-truths. And the same went for the werewolf alpha who could comfortably complain to Stiles about the issues he had in the pack.

It could be accurately said that Stiles had always been attracted to Derek, because Derek had always been hot and Stiles had always noticed it, but he hadn't dwelled on it much when Stiles had been scared half shitless by the man. Once the fear was gone and he could more safely think about Derek's cut abs and smooth chest without being afraid for his life, the crush started making itself known. But Derek was older than him, not old enough to make a difference if they were both adults but Stiles was still in high school, so it was technically illegal. For another few months, at least, until he turned eighteen. But he would still be in high school and what normal adult wanted a relationship with a hormonally unbalanced, annoying, ADD high schooler? Also Derek was way out of his league, obviously. Then there was of course the fact that Derek was straight. Or at least all facts led to that conclusion. Of course, most people assumed Stiles was straight. Or at least he thought they did. Nobody really took those rumors seriously right? Scott was obviously head over heels about Allison still, and Danny had laughed that one time somebody actually asked if he'd ever done anything with Stiles.

Whatever. He was still in the closet or whatever. It's not like it was worth coming out when the one male interest he had would never return his feelings. But as time passed Stiles began to think it was less of a one-time fluke and more of an actual sexual identity emerging. He still liked girls, but it was like his attraction to Derek had made him think about other possibilities as well. He decided to keep it to himself, nonetheless. At least until college.

Derek was becoming more and more comfortable with him during his nightly visits, which was awesome but at the same time giving Stiles' crazed hormones false hope. Especially the night when he'd managed to fall asleep while they were talking and woke up in the morning cuddled to Derek's side. He wondered why the man hadn't just left. He's awkwardly apologized and when he returned from the bathroom Derek had gone. But it started him thinking.

Stiles liked experiments. So he decided to start an experiment with Derek, testing the boundaries of their odd friendship. He'd seen the members of Derek's Pack of Misfits do a wolf-ish kind of cuddling occasionally, though they would probably all deny it if confronted. Maybe Derek letting Stiles sleep on him was him seeing Stiles as a member of the pack. He'd been going to pack meetings already, him and Allison were like the human mascots or something, but they both usually skipped out when Derek did training or Werewolf 101 class, because it seemed like it would be over their heads. When Stiles next heard Scott mention having another 101 course after school, he asked to tag along.

"I mean, do you think that would be ok?"

"Yeah, can't see why not it's not like we're trying to keep anything secret from you."

"You sure?"

"…Maybe I'll ask Derek. Just in case." Stiles didn't see the proof of the text conversation that led to him being granted access, but he wondered if he should have looked at it when Derek gave him an odd look upon him entering the house after school behind Scott.

"What are you doing here?" Of course Jackson would have a problem.

"I figured if I have to be official werewolf babysitter maybe I should know more about them."

"Well then read one of your books, Stilinski."

"Jackson." Derek's voice apparently had magical powers to get Jackson to shut up and pay attention. "He's right. Books can't teach him everything, especially about pack dynamics and customs. An outsider would view him as a part of our pack and he would be expected to show the same formalities as the rest of you." He looked at Scott. "Allison, too."

"Should I tell her to start coming?" Derek nodded. Apparently Stiles had opened some odd doorway into full pack initiation for the both of them. He hoped he wouldn't regret it, considering that part about outsiders.

"Do a lot of other werewolves tend to want to come visit?"

"There are a few packs that knew my family. Some allies. And there is always the chance of somebody wanting out territory. Human expansion has affected us as well. A pack doesn't live well in a city." That started Stiles true education on pack life. It was hella more complicated than he anticipated. Apparently Scott had already been telling Allison everything he learned, but Stiles had to start playing catch-up, so Derek started coming by every night.

He was always there by midnight, around the time Stiles' dad would start snoring. They would sit on Stiles' bed and Derek would tell him about pack dynamics and stories from lessons he'd learned growing up. Stiles would interrupt him with questions continuously. At around three Derek usually left. Stiles hadn't fallen asleep on him again but he started doing little things; sitting closer to Derek on the bed, touching him on his arm or leg when he asked a question, even going so far as to resting his head on Derek's shoulder one night, using a yawn to convey that it was because he was tired.

"Maybe we should call it an early night."

"No, no, I'm fine. Keep going. I'm listening, I swear." Derek kept talking, and he let Stiles keep his head on his shoulder. The thought made him giddy all during the next day.

Now he really had to do some strategizing. Stiles opened up a spreadsheet on his computer for the first time since he was in elementary school and forced to do the science fair every year. In one column he made a list of things to try to do at and around Derek. He left a column beside it to record positive or negative reactions. He separated all the actions by type. If he could complete a certain amount of one group with mostly positive reactions, he would move onto the next group. The simplest group included things like small touches; in a more advanced one he would try giving the big sourpuss werewolf a hug and one beyond that was hold his hand for five seconds; the king daddy at the very bottom of the list that he would only try if he got all positive reactions from everything else was a kiss on the cheek. He didn't want to plan anything passed that, incase his entire experiment bombed from the start. He saved the spreadsheet in a deep dark file on his computer long before he expected Derek to show up.

The light touches were things he'd already been doing, but he started doing them more frequently, more purposeful. Derek didn't react to them at all and Stiles began to realize quickly that he might have to jump ahead a few spaces. He been told the quickest way to a man's heart was through his stomach, and he wondered if the same applied to werewolves.

"Stiles?" His dad always called him when he entered the house, as if he was afraid Stiles was hiding behind a door and going to jump out so he needed to know his exact location.

"Kitchen!" His dad appeared in the door way and surveyed the room with wide eyes.

"Stiles what the hell?"

"I'll clean it up when I'm done. Promise."

"You better. What are you making?" Stiles turned and grinned, showing him the tray he was about to put in the oven.

"Cupcakes!" Sheriff Stilinksi nodded slowly.

"I'm going to go change out of my uniform. Try to clean off enough space to make dinner."

"That's what the cupcakes are for!"

"No way in hell, Stiles." Stiles grinned to himself. He was in a giddy mood and the fight with his dad and long since blown over. While the cupcakes baked he started cleaning up the mess he'd made. Stiles wasn't a bad cook we he focused. Actually, when he focused he was pretty good at most things. He just didn't like to focus. As he cleaned his dad came in and started looking in the fridge for something to make for dinner. "How was school."

"Fine. Same old, same old."

"Anything interesting happen?"

Stiles started to automatically answer no, but then again somebody had thrown a note at his head that said 'fag' in science class. He hadn't really thought anything of it, though. It was just a stupid thing people said and he'd already come to terms with the fact that he was hot for Derek, which made him at least a little bit of a fag. But he realized now maybe it should bother him. Maybe it was something he could talk to his dad about. Haha! As if. No, this was for burying deep deep in his mind and ignoring.

"Nothing exciting." His dad seemed ok with that answer.

"How about burgers?"

"Yes! Are there still frozen French fries?"

"Yeah, but your cupcakes are taking up the oven."

"There's room." While Stiles rearranged the oven and poured a pound of frozen fries onto a baking sheet his dad made patties.

"So. Birthday is coming up."

"Yeah, it seems to do that about the same time very year."

"Ha. Eighteen. Big one."

"…Are we about to have another 'now that you're becoming a man' talk?"

"We could. I have about two dozen more. Or you could just tell me what you want for a present." Stiles sat on the counter. He hadn't really been thinking much about his upcoming birthday. It was still a month away.

"Um…give me some time to think about it I guess."

That night he waited in his room, a little plate of cupcakes waiting by his computer. About thirty minutes before Derek showed up he began thinking that this was the worst idea in the world and he was a moron, and had finally convinced himself to just throw the cupcakes away. He was about to leave his room to do so when Derek slid inside.

"Oh. Hey. Cupcake?"

"What?" Stiles held up the plate.

"Um…do you want a cupcake?"

"Oh…I thought you…yes." Stiles held out the plate and watched Derek as he bit into the pastry. "Aren't you going to have one?"

Stiles looked down at the plate he'd piled cupcakes onto. "Oh, yeah." He put the plate down and tried to navigate getting cupcake into his mouth while also watching Derek put some into his. He realized just how awesome and terrible it was that he'd iced the fuck out of them. Derek was a lot more careful with his, only getting excess icing on his fingers that he removed with his tongue which was basically the hottest thing Stiles had ever seen that wasn't on his computer screen. All of this managed to distract Stiles so that he ended up missing his mouth and getting icing all over his cheek. He gave up and put the partially-eaten snack back on the plate before he embarrassed himself further.

"Um, you have…" And then Stiles' life must have become one of those quirky teen movies because Derek was actually wiping the icing off his cheek and lip with his thumb, standing a lot closer than he had been a moment ago. When Derek actually put his thumb in his mouth to suck the icing away Stiles brain and heart stopped.

"Stiles?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you ok? You've been standing there staring at me for two minutes." Stiles blinked and his mind caught up with the situation.

"I'm fine, totally fine, just was thinking about…this huge paper I have to do."

Derek sat on the bed.

"What's it on?"

"Um…" Stiles moved to his desk chair, glad that he actually did have a paper, but it wasn't due for two weeks and Stiles never worked on something more than four days in advanced. "I have to choose a topic relating to one of the wars we've studied in my history class. I was thinking maybe the Korean War? Something about the medics."

"Why that."

"Because M*A*S*H, due." Derek looked confused. "The TV show? Starring Alan Alda? Aired from '72 to '83? Eleven seasons? Don't you ever watch TV?"

"No. I don't have one."

"Well yeah but didn't you have one growing up? Before the fire?"

"No."

"Really?"

Derek shrugged. "My family thought it encouraged isolation from the pack." Stiles started to type away on his laptop.

"Well screw that, this is, like, the best show to ever be aired. Next to Firefly and Avatar the Last Airbender." He found a link online and pulled up the first episode, then angled his computer to get a good view of it from the bed. "Move over." Stiles settled in next to Derek.

"Shouldn't you be working on homework."

"This is more important. You've educated me on wolfy life, now I get to educate you on quality television and pop culture."

They watched almost the entire first season and when Stiles woke up he'd been tucked under the sheets. Even though he was pretty tired from the late night marathon he still beamed and even whistled as he walked into first period. Scott was already in a desk, glaring at the wood like he wanted to set it on fire.

"Well you look like you had a way less awesome night than me," Stiles commented as he took the desk next to his best friend.

"My mom has a new boyfriend."

"Oh. Well what's so bad about that? Is he a jerk or something."

Scott sat up and sighed. "No, he seems nice on the outside but…"

"What? Wolf senses tingling?"

"You could say that…"

"Well then what is it?"

Scott leaned closer and Stiles mirrored him.

"When he came to pick her up for dinner last night…I could…well, I could smell him."

"Well, yeah, can't you like, smell everybody?"

"No, I could…I can smell his pheromones, right? I could….I could tell he wanted to…you know…"

"Oh. He was horny and wanted to bone your mom." Scott hit him for that, but not very hard. "Well that's awkward."

"Tell me about it. It was disgusting."

"Wait…can you always smell pheromones like that?"

Scott shrugged. "I didn't know what it was at first. Derek's been teaching us the different scents people give off. Fear and excitement and…sexual attraction." Stiles' eyes were wide. Did this mean that every time Derek was around him, especially last night, he could smell that Stiles was attracted to him? "It can be kind of cool sometimes but when it's not…it's not like I can just shut off my nose. And this guy just reeked of it."

"Uh-huh…"

"So, what did you do last night that was so awesome?" Luckily Allison showed up and Stiles had never been more grateful for her taking all of Scott's attention.

There was no way that Derek didn't know now, unless there was some lucky magical fluke happening in the Universe. And if he didn't know…and yet still hung out with Stiles and let him do things like fall asleep on him, did he not mind then that Stiles was attracted to him?


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Funny story, I updated my AO3 and then today realized I hadn't updated on here. Oops. There is going to be one more short chapter after this to wrap everything up nicely.

Well. This changes everything.

Stiles spent his lunch break in the library looking up pheromones. He started with the Wikipedia article (not a reliable source his ass) and branched out, focusing on human pheromones rather than the much cooler animal ones. They seem to revolve mostly around sex and (ew) menstrual cycles. He continued the research when he got home and was still deep into deciphering some science lingo when he felt a warm puff of breath on his cheek soon followed by a "What are you doing?"

"Jesus fuck!" Stiles leapt about two feet in the air and fell out of his chair. "I'm getting you a goddamn bell!" He glared up at Derek who had the nerve to look amused. "A bell. On a collar. Around your neck. Twenty-four seven." Derek grabbed his elbow to help him up.

"Try to collar me and I'll bite your hand off." Stiles continued to glare as he picked up his chair and sat down again. "So what are you doing? More research?"

"Um, yeah. Scott told me today about you guys being able to smell pheromones. I thought it was interesting." Derek sat down on the bed.

"And what have you learned?"

Stiles shrugged. "Not much beyond what he told me. Just the technical jargon and the experiments and history of research…"

"It can be very useful. Scent in general is very important to us. You remember how quickly Scott latched onto Allison's scent." Stiles nodded, remembering the jacket Derek used to lure Scott into the woods. He swung the chair around to face Derek. "When a person is particularly important to an individual, their scent becomes stronger to them, locked into their brain. It can also be…distracting."

"You can smell my pheromones?"

"Yes."

"So all those times…you know…"

"Yes." Realization slowly dawned on Stiles.

"Last night. With the icing. You did that on purpose."

Derek was smirking. It looked positively terrifying on him. "Yes."

"You are an asshole!"

"Stiles if I couldn't smell you I would have still known. You are not stealthy in the slightest. And you blush a lot." Stiles could feel his face heating up then.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

Derek shrugged. "I wasn't sure if I should say anything. I can smell certain things but I can't read your mind, Stiles." Stiles was very grateful for that.

"Well the thoughts basically match the scents. I like you…and stuff…" God was he in middle school? Stiles wondered if it was too late to write a 'will you go out with me check yes or no' note and then ask Scott to give it to Derek for him.

"I thought as much."

"Well I can't read minds or smell pheromones. So…what are you thinking?" Derek put his hand on Stiles' cheek and leaned in. For probably only the second time in his entire life, Stiles' mind went completely blank. Derek's lips touched his lightly, only briefly. Stiles was still staring wide-eyed by the time Derek was halfway out of the window. "Wait!" Stiles ran to the window. "What…that…."

"Goodnight Stiles." Derek flashed him a smile, then jumped and was gone.

Stiles stood still for a while. He shook himself and slapped his face a few times. Definitely still awake. So what the hell did that all mean?

He spent most of the night wondering if he should text Derek, then wondering how weird it would be to text Scott (hey if Scott could blab on and on about this girl problems then he should be able to talk about his Derek problems…no? too weird?), then wondering if he should call one of those gay teen hotlines before remembering that those were supposed to be for depressed people, not people wondering if their alpha kissing them meant that he like-liked them back, then we would wonder if he should just text Derek.

In the end he just got very little sleep and didn't text or call anybody. Soon enough he was back at school, sitting next to Scott who kept poking him every time he started to doze off.

"Dude you need to lay off the late night Adderall binges."

"I wasn't—I just didn't get a lot of sleep, ok?"

"Ok…are you ok? Something happen."

"No! Nothing happened!" The slight freak out caused Scott to stare at him for a second, and the teacher to yell at them to stop talking during the lecture. Stiles looked down at his textbook and tried to concentrate on not falling asleep. His phone buzzed in his pocket and his heart leapt. What if it was Derek? What if Derek needed to meet him right now? Would he run out of school just because Derek told him to? Yes. Yes he would. He checked to make sure nobody was looking before taking it out. It wasn't from, Derek though. It was from Scott.

*I still no when ur lying, dude. Ur rly bad it. Wuts up?*

'Fucking werewolf sense,' Stiles thought. It probably wasn't even his heart rate that gave it away, though. He had kind of flipped out a little.

*I dnt wnt to tlk abut it. Its weird.*

*Wrder than bein a werewolf?*

*Srprisingly…yes.*

Scott raised an eyebrow at him but then the teacher looked like she was going to walk over and they both put their phones away. At lunch Scott grilled him more.

"I thought we were best friends."

"We are."

"Tell meeeee."

"Dude, it's for your own good. I don't want you to get…weirded out."

"Who's weirded out?" Of course Jackson had to come join them. Pack or not, he was still an asshole. Their normal lunch table that had only consisted of Scott and Stiles at the beginning of high school had not spread to include Allison, Jackson, and Lydia. Part of it was annoying because he could never have a one-on-one with Scott, but part of it was cool. It was like he actually had friends. And they were his friends. Except Jackson was still an asshole.

"Me. By your face."

"Funny Stilinski."

"What are we talking about?" Lydia plopped down beside Stiles while Allison took her normal seat next to Scott so they could make goo-goo eyes at each other.

"Jackson's face. It's weirding me out."

"Can you give me a hint?" Stiles was surprised that Scott even remembered that they were having a conversation now that Allison was within fifteen feet of him.

"No."

"A hint about what? What are we talking about?" Lydia hated feeling like she was being left out of something. She'd never even been invited to pack meetings, she had just started showing up herself.

"Nothing. It's a personal issue."

"Did you get your first period, Stilinski?"

"Did you get yours?"

"Jackson shut up! Stiles there are no personal issues in the pack." Stiles gaped a bit. Since when was Lydia officially in the pack?

"Since when—what—no—Yes! Yes there are! This is a personal thing that concerns none of you."

"If it has anything to do with the pack then it does. And I have a feeling that its related." Damn Lydia for being smart. Or a lucky guesser.

"Nope. We're not talking about this. Not here. Not now. Not ever." He took a big bite of burger, hoping it would end the subject. But Lydia was giving him that look like she was trying to extract information out of his brain through his eyes. "Stop it. That's creepy."

"Stiles can I talk to you outside." Lydia grabbed his shirt collar and yanked him away from the table. She was really strong.

"Stop, no! This is kidnapping! Scott, help!" Scott just shrugged.

Lydia dragged him outside of the cafeteria and pushed him against a locker.

"Ok. Spill. Who is it."

"Who is—"

"Your new love interest. Please, you've been over me for ages."

"It's scary how you know everything."

"People, like books, are easy for me to read."

"Creepy."

"Stop avoiding, Stiles."

"But I'm so good at it!" Lydia rolled her eyes and dragged Stiles into an empty classroom. She sat him down and dragged a seat next to him.

"Seriously. Spill."

"Why are you so interested."

"Because I'm dying to talk about something that isn't about Scott and Allison or werewolves." Stiles laughed.

"Well technically this doesn't fulfill those requirements, so..." Stiles shut his mouth quickly when Lydia's eyes widened. He had reveals too much. Stupid stupid stupid.

"Ok, so you're either in love with Scott or Allison or both or another werewolf. I know you're not in love Allison, so that leaves one of our fine werewolf men. There's no way it's Jackson so it's either Scott or...omg."

"Why does everybody think I'm gay for Scott?"

"Stiles."

"Just because we're best friends it's so-"

"Stiles you are in love with Derek."

"I...what...? You..." Stiles narrowed his eyes at her. "You are a witch."

"I'm just not a dumbass like everybody else in this school. I knew there was something going on between you two. Stiles does he know?"

Stiles sighed. It seemed he had no choice but to confess to Lydia. And honestly...the thought of a confidant made him feel better.

"He knows." Lydia gasped.

"Stiles tell me everything right now or I'll start marching around the school proclaiming that you are my new GBF."

"GBF?"

"Gay best friend." Stiles was SO not ready for the entire school to know yet. So he started talking, telling Lydia about all that had happened from falling asleep on Derek to the kiss.

"I just...I still don't know what it means?"

"Really? Somebody kisses you and you don't know what it means? It means he likes you, too, Stiles!"

"Yeah but what if it was just like...a pity kiss?"

"A pity kiss?"

"Yeah, like. 'I don't like you but I don't want you to feel bad so here's a little kiss as a condolence prize' kind of kiss."

"Stiles that only happens in movies."

"Really?"

"Really. I have turned down more guys than I can count and never have I given any of them a pity kiss."

"So you think he really likes me?" Stiles couldn't keep off the grin that slowly slid onto his face.

"If you're waiting for me to tell you that you are the hunkiest guy in school and everybody wants you so of course he likes you too, it's not going to happen. But come on, he's totally overprotective of you and you guys spend all that alone time together-"

"He spends time with Scott and Jackson, too."

"Yeah but usually both of them together. Not one-on-one. Also he smiles a lot more when you're around."

"He does?" Lydia rolled his eyes.

"God you are so unobservant! Come on, let's get back to lunch." She stood up and Stiles followed her to the door. Outside the lunchroom he stopped her.

"Wait, Lydia. Please don't say anything to anybody. I'm serious." Lydia crossed her arms and looked at him.

"I won't. But you better. Scott would be, like, heartbroken if he found out something so important about his best friend from somebody other than you."

Stiles sighed. "I'll tell him. But not yet. Not until there is something to tell." It's not like him and Derek were going steady - did people still use that term? - or anything. One kiss wasn't enough to make the front page.

After school he texted Derek.

'R U coming ovr 2nite?'

'Yes. Something wrong?'

'no. need 2 tlk.'

Derek appeared earlier than he normally did. Stiles was sitting cross legged on his bed, waiting. Before he could even start with the speech he had prepared about mixed signals and running away, Derek sighed and said,

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have run off last night."

"You …are right. You shouldn't have."

Derek sat on the edge of the bed. "It's just…your underage. So…I didn't want things to get too serious too fast."

Stiles was pretty sure he was getting brain whiplash. "Wait…you want things to get serious?"

Derek smiled. "As you might have noticed with Scott…werewolves get pretty serious about their partners. We're not as into flings, normally. It's much safer, and we do much better, with long term relationships."

"So like how wolves mate for life. Derek…do you want me to be your mate?" he teased. The smile disappeared from Derek's face.

"Right now, you shouldn't be my anything. You're only seventeen."

Stiles moved to his knees, leaning toward Derek. "Yeah, only for like less than a month!" Suddenly he was excited for his birthday, and knew exactly what he wanted. "Derek…"

Derek leaned away slightly. "Stiles?"

Stiles couldn't keep the grin off his face. "You have feelings for me, and I have feelings for you."

"Yes we've established that." Stiles threw his arms around Derek, hugging him tightly. "Stiles, what?"

"Sorry I'm just insanely happy right now!" Derek's arms slowly moved around him, hugging him back. "Derek…are you sniffing me?"

"Yes." Instead of weirding him out it just made him happier. Scent was a big deal to the werewolves, as Scott talking endlessly about Allison's scent told him.

"Aw. You like my smell."

"Stiles…" Derek pulled away and pushed Stiles back. "I don't think you understand the weight of this."

Stiles was still grinning like a fool. "Everything it perfect and right with the world for once, can't it just stay that way."

"Stiles…this is going to be complicated. Like I said, werewolves like long term relationships, but you're young. I can't expect you to want the same thing. You're going to be going to college and I have to let you live your own life and—" Stiles was tired of hearing Derek talk to he took a chance and leaned forward, kissing him.

"Stop. You know all of us already decided to go to the community college so we could stay together as a pack. Derek…I like you a lot. I don't want to go anywhere without you." The kissed again, Derek's hand cupping Stiles' cheek. While their other kisses had been quick and chaste, this one was more of a *real* kiss. Derek pushed Stiles back until he was laying down. Just when everything was perfect and hot and Stiles was resigned to the fact that he would rather suffocate than stop kissing, Derek broke away.

"I should go."

Stiles groaned, annoyed. He was seventeen and still a virgin. Not a really big deal in the grand scheme, he realized, but still annoying when he knew everybody else was getting it all the time. "It's not illegal to make out. Why are you even concerned with the whole 'coming of age' thing anyway! Nobody else is! And who's gonna tell," he motioned around his room, bare of anybody who would go running off to the authorities.

"You're dad is a cop."

"I wasn't planning on telling him."

Derek sighed. "It would make me feel better if we waited."

"Ok, I get the whole not rushing into sex part…but does that mean we're at a complete standstill because like I said, making out isn't ill—" Whatever he said must have worked because it make Derek kiss him again. This time Stiles grabbed onto the other's shirt and held tight so he couldn't run away. Though…Derek was pretty damn strong and could basically do what he wanted.

"Stiles?" They had been too distracted to hear his dad's car pull in, but the man was apparently home from his late shift, and coming up the stairs to his room. Derek pulled away quickly.

"One minute dad, I'm, um, exercising! Naked!" Derek gave him a look and he shrugged.

"Um…ok. Just wanted to let you know I was home. Did you eat?" Derek climbed off the bed and Stiles followed him to the window.

"No, not yet, but there's a frozen pizza in the freezer why don't you go work on that and I'll be down in a minute?"

"Stiles, are you ok?"

"I'm fine dad don't come in I'm still naked."

Derek rolled his eyes and started climbing out the window.

"Ok, well wash up and come down stairs." Stiles grabbed Derek's arm to hold him back and waited till his dad's footsteps faded.

"That was close."

"I have to go."

"I know. Um…I love you." That wasn't what Stiles had meant to say but somehow it came tumbling out. But Derek just smiled and kissed him.

"Goodnight Stiles." He disappeared out the window. Stiles leaned out the window after him.

"Next time no kissing and running!" he hissed quietly, knowing the other would hear.

He trudged downstairs, not even able to be properly upset at his dad for the interruption.

"Hello father dearest!"

"Hey. Were you skyping with Scott?"

"Huh?" Stiles got himself a drink from the fridge.

"I thought I heard you talking to somebody."

"What…oh. No. I was on the phone. With Lydia."

"While you were working out?"

"Yeah she was giving me pointers. She's got a mega good routine. You know," he grabbed his own ass, "for the glutes." His dad nodded slowly.

"Whatever you say."

After they'd eaten, the doorbell rang.

"Hey, Scott."

"Hey, man, I was out for a walk and I had an idea."

"Scott. Did you just say you walked all the way here?" Stiles' dad greeted the teen with the question.

"Um…I was nearby."

"We'll be in my room, dad."

"Ok…but it's pretty late already. Scott shouldn't stay too long."

Stiles shut the door behind him. "He seems suspicious."

"Yeah, well…I already lied to him once today, so…"

"About what?"

"Nothing."

Scott sat down on the bed. "Anyway, I think we should have a party for your birthday. Just like, with the pack." Stiles sat down at his computer chair.

"Sounds awesome."

Scott grinned. "You're in? Cool, I want to—" He sniffed the air. "Derek was here?"

Stiles tried to will himself not to blush. "Yeah. He stopped by." Scott was still sniffing.

"Did he take a nap, his smell is all over your bed."

"So the party?" Stiles prompted.

"Oh, yeah. I think Derek will probably let us have it at his place, since you're the favorite and all, and Jackson has this theory that maybe since we can't get drunk we should just get a ton of weed and see if that works." He was grinning broadly. Stiles laughed.

"That. Sounds. Awesome."

"Right?"

"Let's do it!" The two hugged in excitement.

"You smell like Derek."

"Scott, you're my best friend, but it's kind of weird that you're sniffing me."

"Sorry, sorry. Just really in tune with my alphas scent, you know?" Scott was giving him a weird look.

"What?"

"It's just…the scent thing…I can kind of tell if people have touched you…"

"Weird."

"And…well…were you and Derek hugging."

"Dude I've seen you and Jackson and Derek do your cuddly wolf piles. I have pictures. I will release them on the internet."

"Not funny that is pack bonding! And I'm not saying it's bad, it's just…Derek isn't a big hugger. I was just curious, but whatever, I didn't mean to upset you."

Stiles remembered what Lydia had said. Scott was pretty dumb, but the lines weren't impossible to connect.

"No, I'm sorry. I should probably tell you now….fuck, man."

"What?"

"You might want to sit down." Scott plopped down on the bed.

Stiles stared at Scott for a while, trying to figure out the best way to put it to not freak Scott out.

"Um…dude…"

"Stiles, what is it?"

"I…kind of have feelings for Derek."

"Ok."

"And he has them back."

"Ok."

"And we made out on my bed."

"Ok."

"Ok? You're being really cool about this."

Scott nodded. "Yeah, it's cool. I should go." He stood up and walked out, then came back in and slammed the door behind him. "Wait, what?"

"Oh, fuck man." Stiles collapsed into his bed, exasperated.

"You MADE OUT with my ALPHA?"

"He's my alpha, too, Scott! And will you keep it down, I don't want the entire neighborhood to know!"

Scott sat down heavily on the bed. "Stiles are you gay?"

Stiles let out a long breath. "I don't know. Does it matter? Maybe. Like…bisexualish?"

"Just asking…I mean…it doesn't matter. You're still my best friend. Just…Derek?"

"Yeah. I know."

"He…"

"Yeah, I know."

"He could hurt you." Stiles looked at Scott and raised an eyebrow.

"Who supported you and helped you learn to control yourself so you could be with Allison? Who looked up legal textbooks which are BORING AS HELL so I could negotiate the treaty so you could actually see Allison without sneaking around behind her father's back?"

"I know, I know…I'm like supposed to worry about you, right? You're like…my brother." Stiles sat up and put a hand on Scott's shoulder.

"Thanks."

"I should go. Before your dad comes to ask why I'm still here and smells Derek all over the place."

"Not everybody has your crazy wolf senses, Scott."

"Really? You can't smell it."

Stiles shook his head. "Nope. Just you."

"Oh."

"Bye, Scott."

"See you tomorrow!"

Things settled into a pattern after that. Derek would come over, they would make out, and the man would leave way to early, leaving Stiles annoyed and growlingly sexually frustrated. At least he could use his upcoming birthday as an excuse to his dad for his chipper mood.

The first pack meeting after he and Derek first put all their feelings out in the open was an awkward one, though. He and Derek knew, of course. Lydia knew. Scott knew, and of course he'd told Allison. Jackson…well…he seemed to not notice any of the awkwardness in the room. Or that Allison and Lydia kept looking at Derek and Stiles and giggling. Or that Scott wasn't sure what to say and kept staring at the floor. Jackson didn't know, and nobody could really be bothered to tell him.

So the weeks ticked by like this, Derek of course agreed to host the party for Stiles as long as it was pack-only. Nobody asked were the giant bag of weed came from, but apparently it was financed by Derek as well. The alpha also gave them all permission to spend the night so they wouldn't have to crawl home at odd hours, blazed and reeking.

"Stiles, remember, you are turning 18, not 21."

"I promise there will be no drinking and driving." His dad knew he drank, but liked to pretend he didn't know as long as Stiles hid it really well. Also no driving while intoxicated ever or he would be locked up in the jail for way longer than was legally allowed.

"And don't let anybody else do it either."

"It's going to be a chill party, dad, just a few of us. And we're all staying the night anyway."

"At Scotts house?"

"Actually…Derek's house." Stiles was getting tired of lying to his dad so much, so he started letting it slip that he was friends with the man, since there was nothing morally or legally connected with him currently. His dad narrowed his eyes.

"I just don't understand why an adult man would want to hang out with a bunch of teenagers." Stiles shrugged.

"He's just letting us use his house."

"I better not get a call to come out there."

"Dad it's in the middle of the woods who is going to call in a noise complaint? The owls?"

"Just be safe."

"I will."

"Call me if you need to me to come get you."

"I will."

"Did you call your grandmother back so she could wish you a happy birthday?

"Dad I am walking out of the door right now." He finally managed to escape and was giddy with excitement the entire drive. He didn't bother to knock on the door anymore (the all acted like Derek's house was their house, except if they didn't pick up after themselves they got in big snarling teeth type trouble) and threw his bag onto the couch.

"This is going to be the best birthday ever!" Derek came out of the kitchen smiling.

"Hey birthday boy."

Stiles ran up and threw himself at Derek, kissing him on the lips.

"What. The. Fuck." They jumped apart. They'd never done so much as hold hands in front of anybody else, even the pack. Apparently Jackson had come in the back door, though. "What….you….omg." He ran outside, trying to cover his eyes and not bump into anything.

"Jackson where are you going? What happened?" Lydia had apparently gotten ride from him and came in as he was running away.

Stiles blushed. "It was just a kiss."

"He saw you kissing? And I missed it! Not fair!" Derek rolled his eyes. While Lydia went after Jackson, Derek pulled Stiles into the kitchen.

"Help me make dinner."

Derek had gotten everything to make Stiles' favorite food; chicken parmesan with mushrooms and angel hair pasta. They started cooking while Lydia sat Jackson down in the living room and scolded him for not being supportive of his pack mates. Stiles found it endearing. Scott and Allison showed up during this and Scott laughed loudly when he heard the story, probably glad that he hadn't found out the same way.

"Stop," Derek commanded as Stiles chased a piece of chicken around the pan he was frying it in, trying to flip it. He'd gotten distracted trying to eavesdrop on the conversation in the living room. Standing behind him, Derek put an arm on either side and showed Stiles how to properly flip the chicken.

"Awww…you guys are adorable!" Stiles turned, bright red, and raised the spatula to throw it at Allison, but Derek took it out of his hand.

"Stop it. I'll finish here." He shooed Stiles out of the kitchen. He went to the living room, made a face at Jackson, and settled down on the couch. The five of them goofed off until Derek announced dinner was done.

They gathered around the table, which was covered in food (teenage boys eat a lot, teenage werewolf boys eat double that).

"Ok. So you two are like…together or whatever. Isn't that something that needs to be disclosed to the ENTIRE pack?"

"No," Derek answered automatically.

"But—"

"No. Pass this down."

"I'm sure they're sorry they didn't tell you, Jackson," Allison offered.

"Nope," Stiles replied before occupying his mouth with chicken.

"No."

"Well how come you told everybody else?"

"Jackson shut up and eat."

Stiles smirked at Derek and bumped their legs together under the table. The alpha offered a small smile back.


	3. Chapter 3

The night of his birthday, Stiles did finally get sex. And it was awesome. Angels sang, the Earth moved, everything Stiles had hoped for and more. The worst part was that after having sex once, he really wanted to have it all the time. But Derek wasn't as accommodating. Something about how Stiles spending every night at Derek's house would negatively affect both of their productivity and also make Stiles dad catch on. Stiles wasn't sure when he was going to tell his dad. Maybe when he was thirty. Yeah. That was a good timeline.

But Derek still came over every day. It was almost a Bella-Edward scenario, except this was much better and not dumb and Derek was way more attractive and Stiles would never admit to having actually read those books or seen the movies. Multiple times.

But Derek came over every night and they would talk and kiss and cuddle until Stiles feel asleep and usually Derek would leave. But sometimes Derek would fall asleep first, or he'd just decide he didn't feel like going home, and he'd still be there in the morning. It was nice. And he was getting ready to graduate. And life was perfect.

So it was a pretty big bombshell when out of the blue during breakfast one morning, his dad asked,

"So when are you going to invite your boyfriend for dinner?"

Stiles was lucky his dad knew the Heimlich and he was able to avoid another hospital visit.

"How did you know?" Stiles was on the couch, still recovering from almost choking to death on toast of all things. His dad was writing him a note to be late to class.

"Stiles I'm your father. You and Scott have been going through each other's windows since you were little. But Scott isn't the type to come by every night that late. Who is he?"

"How do you know it's a he?"

"Stiles I'm a cop." Oh yeah.

"Promise you won't be mad?" His dad put a hand on his shoulder.

"That's ridiculous. I love you no matter what. I'm just upset you've been sneaking around instead of talking to me about what's going on in your life."

"Sorry…It was just weird and I didn't really tell anybody for a while…"

"I understand. Who is it?"

"Um…Derek Hale?"

"You're kidding me."

"Dad!"

"Is this a joke?" His dad sighed. "Well I own Stevenson twenty bucks now, thanks for that."

"You were betting on me!"

"I thought for sure it would be Danny."

"What just because he's the only other gay kid you've heard of? He has a boyfriend!"

"Yeah, well, he helped you out a lot with lacrosse before, so I thought…"

"I can't believe you bet on me with Stevenson."

"And Mark. And Jeremiah."

"You are a terrible father." His dad grabbed him around the neck and ruffled his hair.

"Yeah, but I'm the only one you got. And I gotta go to work." He stood up. "Really? Derek Hale? Damn…guess it makes sense now…Well, invite him to Sunday brunch."

"Brunch? When have we ever had brunch?"

"I thought you're type liked brunch?" Stiles was appalled for a moment, before he realized his dad was pulling his leg. He threw a pillow at him anyway.

"You are a terrible person!"

"You are going to miss first period! Go to school!"

"Go to work!"

"Don't tell me what to do, you're not my real dad!" His dad ran out dramatically, leaving Stiles laughing alone. After a while he realized he really did need to get going. On his way out the door he texted Derek.

'My dad just asked me if my booty call guy would like to stay for Sunday brunch next week. U in?'


End file.
